POLL: How much wealth is enough to retire?

[Turkish]

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How much wealth is enough to retire? If you own your house, own your cars, and all your kids' education is already guarenteed, how much is enough to retire? Of course, when I say wealth, I am excluding all your belongings. I am talking about the $ in bank. How much will you need when you retire? Or what was your parent's net value when they retired? I am just curious about this because I am reading this book named "The Millionaire Next Door" and I find some of the numbers pretty stupid.

Xiety

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[alkemyst]

You first need to come up with how long are you going to live from the day you retire and what type of lifestyle you'd like to live.

I have known some retirees that could not do it on 3 million and some that had to do it on less than $150,000.

 

[Bolvangar]

Never enough.

 

[spidey07]

if I were to retire today I'd say 1,000,000.

But I probably won't retire for another 30 years so probably 3,000,000 when I actually retire.

 

[NL5]

If everything is paid for, including the house, $500,000 would be the MINIMUM.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: NL5
If everything is paid for, including the house, $500,000 would be the MINIMUM.

Why?

Pensions exist for a reason.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Let's say I want to retire at 65. Let's also say I'll die at 80. That means, I have to live 15 years off my pension+social security+ROI from savings, adjusted for inflation. Let's say, at age 65, I need $80,000 per year to maintain my current standard of living. Let's say pension+SS+ROI only pays for $40K/year. So, I'd need at least $600K in savings.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: NL5
If everything is paid for, including the house, $500,000 would be the MINIMUM.

Why?

Pensions exist for a reason.

If the company offers one. Myself I'd like to retire early (55-60) and to do that I'm going to need a bunch of dough.

 

[dullard]

In the situation you describe, I'd love to have $25,000 a year to spend. Sure you have no major expenses, but you got to remember that you might need lots of money for drugs, surgeries, medical care, nursing home, etc. If I retire at 65, I'd have to plan to live 30 more years. So assuming my investments got the same income as inflation. So 30*$25,000 = $750,000 minimum I'd want if I retired today at age 65.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Let's say I want to retire at 65. Let's also say I'll die at 80. That means, I have to live 15 years off my pension+social security+ROI from savings, adjusted for inflation. Let's say, at age 65, I need $80,000 per year to maintain my current standard of living. I would then estimate that I need at least $1.2 million in savings to retire.

What kind of standard of living do you have?

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: minendo
What kind of standard of living do you have?

He must be planning on spending $220 a day on clothes, food, trips, etc at age 80.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Let's say I want to retire at 65. Let's also say I'll die at 80. That means, I have to live 15 years off my pension+social security+ROI from savings, adjusted for inflation. Let's say, at age 65, I need $80,000 per year to maintain my current standard of living. I would then estimate that I need at least $1.2 million in savings to retire.

What kind of standard of living do you have?

I edited my post above...

My standard of living now is nowhere near $80K/year. I am just throwing a figure out there. Don't forget that many of us will have to take care of two people.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: minendo
What kind of standard of living do you have?

He must be planning on spending $220 a day on clothes, food, trips, etc at age 80.

well hopefully at age 65 I'll have dock fees for my boat, nice meals with my family, insurance/taxes on two properties (vacation home), etc. Plus medical expenses it can start to add up very quickly. Not to mention taxes on the money I spend from said nest egg.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Let's say I want to retire at 65. Let's also say I'll die at 80. That means, I have to live 15 years off my pension+social security+ROI from savings, adjusted for inflation. Let's say, at age 65, I need $80,000 per year to maintain my current standard of living. I would then estimate that I need at least $1.2 million in savings to retire.

What kind of standard of living do you have?

I edited my post above...

My standard of living now is nowhere near $80K/year. I am just throwing a figure out there. Don't forget that many of us will have to take care of two people.

My parents take care of 5 people on slightly more than that.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: minendo
What kind of standard of living do you have?

He must be planning on spending $220 a day on clothes, food, trips, etc at age 80.

Considering that some of the nicer assisted living homes can run upwards of $4,000 a month and insurance premiums for someone that age can run $500+ a month, that doesn't seem all that far off.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Let's say I want to retire at 65. Let's also say I'll die at 80. That means, I have to live 15 years off my pension+social security+ROI from savings, adjusted for inflation. Let's say, at age 65, I need $80,000 per year to maintain my current standard of living. I would then estimate that I need at least $1.2 million in savings to retire.

What kind of standard of living do you have?

I edited my post above...

My standard of living now is nowhere near $80K/year. I am just throwing a figure out there. Don't forget that many of us will have to take care of two people.

My parents take care of 5 people on slightly more than that.

And your parents are 65? I would hope that when most of us retire, we'll just be taking care of ourselves and our spouses, not our kids. I would hope my kids were taking care of themselves.

 

[NL5]

I assumed it meant to retire NOW. I am 33. If all my assests were completly paid for, and I had a half million in the bank, I would think about retirement. I won't see my pension until atleast 55.

With 500k, I could make it without working, but my lifestyle would suffer, so it would be a tough choice.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
And your parents are 65? I would hope that when most of us retire, we'll just be taking care of ourselves and our spouses, not our kids. I would hope my kids were taking care of themselves.

No they are not 65. My point was you originally thought you would need $80k/yr to support two people, whereas my parents are supporting 5 people right now while bringing in slightly more than that.

I couldn't image what two 65 year olds would do with $80k/yr. Well then again, I could since my step-grandfather is loaded and all they do is travel and buy stuff.

 

[stormbv]

$0 would be fine by me

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
And your parents are 65? I would hope that when most of us retire, we'll just be taking care of ourselves and our spouses, not our kids. I would hope my kids were taking care of themselves.

No they are not 65. My point was you originally thought you would need $80k/yr to support two people, whereas my parents are supporting 5 people right now while bringing in slightly more than that.

I couldn't image what two 65 year olds would do with $80k/yr. Well then again, I could since my step-grandfather is loaded and all they do is travel and buy stuff.

IF you are in good health, it sounds like a lot. If you are diabetic, or in need of a few joint replacements, or ailing from a whole slew of various other health problems it can really take a chunk out of your savings.

My grandfather is looking at a $25,000 medical bill AFTER insurance for having both knees replaced.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I think you're stupid if you retire with 1,000,000 in the bank and slowly watch it dwindle down.

I could retire with $0 in the bank so long as I had rental income from 5 houses coming in. If you own property, you'll steadily become RICHER the older you get.

 

[GTaudiophile]

vi_edit is correct. as the body gets older and requires more attention, the health costs sky rocket. add to that, assisted-living expenses, travel to grandson's graduation, travel to daughter's house for Christmas, and son's house for Thanksgiving, Christmas checks and gifts by the dozen, etc.

my grandparents live in a nice retirement community in jacksonville, FL. the entrance fee alone was like $250-300K, plus $5K per month.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
I think you're stupid if you retire with 1,000,000 in the bank and slowly watch it dwindle down.

I could retire with $0 in the bank so long as I had rental income from 5 houses coming in. If you own property, you'll steadily become RICHER the older you get.

That's a pretty risky retirement strategy.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
I think you're stupid if you retire with 1,000,000 in the bank and slowly watch it dwindle down.

I could retire with $0 in the bank so long as I had rental income from 5 houses coming in. If you own property, you'll steadily become RICHER the older you get.

That's a pretty risky retirement strategy.

Nope. Once your money is in the bank it's at the will of inflation. If inflation goes up (and it does), your money's value goes down. Also, if you happen to live longer than you think, you're out of luck once your bank account is used up...what will you do then?

I plan to have both...but there is NO way I'm not going to have income coming in from inflation-proof investments like property when I retire.

 

[alkemyst]

don't forget to budget for viagara.